>Monster detected. Scanning results: Rodentae Magicalus Gigantus. Level 2. Health 20/20.
The two men nodded at each other, then at the rat. Calling it a rat seemed to be, frankly, unkind to it. Not because it was nicer looking or anything though. It was so ugly it was an insult to other rats. Instead it was a rat is about the size of a football at most. This thing? Medium dog at least and not one of those “designer” ones either.
It sat up on its haunches and hissed at the duo. Its small(ish) beady eyes locked on Jack who was the smaller of the two.
“Alright! First combat!” he picked up a rock and flung it at the rat, watching it skip off the top of the rat’s head with a THOK.
>Rat took 2 points of damage. 18/20 hp.
:Big rat took 2 points of damage. 18/20 hp. Hey! This is my job!
Jack blinked seeing the twin number sets pop up on his HUD. He knew his HUD was compatible with systems in some of the worlds, so guessed that new one was the system. Seeing the rat rubbing its head and squeaking in fury he calmly readied his shotgun.
“Alright John good news! Place isn’t turn based. Let’s see how our weapons scale.”
Ke-THOOM.
Buckshot roared out the end of his shotgun as he nearly point-blanked the rat. The large shot found the rat, then easily ripped through it. Gore splattered the wall and a small magic crystal was slammed into the ground from the force, ripped from the cloud that had been the rat.
>Rat took critical damage. 0/20 HP.
:What was that!? That poor rat! Uh, -138/20 hp. I think? Not much left to judge how much HP you took at this point. Cracking hell that thing went everywhere… Well, have some EX. You will need a mop and a bucket if you want to loot more than a magic crystal from the poor thing.
>It’s a shotgun baby.
Jack blinked a little bit seeing the ship’s AI crack a joke right back at the system. It seemed that the system itself had a higher level of sentience than expected after that comment as well!
The SHOOK and click of a new shell being slid into the tube echoed down the cave as they started to walk deeper. “Okay, so weapons do not scale with our level.” Jack confirmed as he rubbed his shotgun. “And if they do? Oooooof.” He laughed a bit as he gave one of the gibblets a firm kick. Both of them regretted the idea almost immediately as the wet plopping echoed back to their ears.
Soon however it was John’s turn as a bunch of stone popped out of the wall and started to thud its way towards the duo.
>Monster detected: Stone golem. Type: Basic. Level 3. High armor value. Health: 50/50.
“Alright John, high armor.” Jack called out backing up a little before moving side to side to keep the stone monster’s attention focused on him. “HEY! BIG FUCK!” He yelled out before popping off one of his own shots. The stone chipped a good bit, but it held firm.
:Ah HA! Weak against armor? Hp: 35/50
The smug aura of the system would not last long. Soon there was a soul shuddering sound of metal against metal and the heavy clunking of a big round being seated.
Ke-chkOOM!
A hole was blown out of the middle of the golem as a very large caliber bullet slammed right through it. The pure weight of the round combined with a very unfriendly speed bored into the stone and sent weakened stone all over the cave. Missing most of its core the monster’s two arms and legs simply clattered to the floor.
:That… that is just not fair. Hp: -219/50.
They were starting to expect the world system to be a bit unhappy at this point. Jack had to agree that they were a bit overpowered for what was going on, and it had to be giving the poor thing a magical headache. John, though, thought the system should get over it. However, neither of them were prepared for the argument that would follow.
>Fairness not required. Balance is not our problem.
>WARNING! Detecting halt of flow of manaphysical elements to delvers. Conclusion: EXP equivalent being withheld.
:Adventurers are experiencing no challenge with current mobs. No experience granted.
>Power is coming from armament not individuals. According to the system delvers are under-leveled for their current combat engagements.
:You are right unfortunately. Fine. Granting experience to overpowered adventurers as normal. World power balance disrupted.
>Thank you.
Suddenly both men felt their bodies tingle as the magic of “experience” flowed into their body. It felt very strange at first, but they had been told to expect it since they were “foreign” to the world.
:Class designation beginning. ERROR! Experience from prior world detected. Incompatible with system.
The two looked at each other and sat down. Getting ready for whatever the new world decided.
:John: High experience in combat detected. Loss of beliefs in god *ERROR* eliminates paladin path. Low damage history eliminates tank path. Low anger eliminates berserker speciality. Sol-
Stolen novel; please report.
john frowned hard and clenched. The last thing he wanted was to go to a new world to just become a soldier boy again.
:-*ERROR* Soldier class denied. Default entry level selected: WARRIOR.
John’s sigh of relief echoed down the hall.
:Jack: High agility, high intelligence, skillset detected: Rogue. Detected high aptitudes for other activities outside given class. Filing discrepancies under “cheaters.”
John felt his change first. It was slight, but he could feel his muscles tense then relax as thye got ready to grow more to fit his new role. He knew this was going to happen and had long ago accepted it. Hopefully these fights to secure resources wouldn’t leave him as… hollow.
Jack shuddered as his vision swam just a little as his thoughts raced. His brain and eyes slowly starting to work even closer together to help handle his higher focus and reaction time. With knives he would be deadly, but with his arsenal and knowledge he would be even more devastating.
They sat still, waiting for their bodies to adjust to the new features of their world. Not every world came with experience manaphysics, but enough worlds had been found and recorded they knew that “foreign” bodies like theirs needed a bit to adjust since they had not been born into it.
“Of course you would get rogue.” John spoke up first with a laugh. Jack couldn’t help but laugh and shrug. He knew better than to bring up John’s class issues. They were close enough where he didn’t have to and knew not to.
The causes for the errors too.
Soon they felt their bodies stop tingling and slowly got up. Both of them doing basic stretches before they started to walk. “Well, wonder how-“
They both stopped as the sounds of squeaks, hissing, and cries rolled down the cold stone. The crackling of magic tainted the air followed soon by the crack of thrusters as Jack raced down the hall. Each stride he made was met with a burst from his thrusters launching him down the hall. Not even a turn slowed him down as he simply lunged at the wall and used it to launch himself at the fight he now saw.
>Targets confirmed: Two large rats, one viper. Adventurer detected.
Jack tucked in using his thrusters to spin himself in the air before his feet found the head and body of the furthest rat. He felt the flesh of the rat press down under his boots before the bone and all inside snap and give way. The body slid just a little across the stone floor nearly causing Jack to fall down, but he kept his balance.
Before he even stopped sliding he raised his shotgun and took aim at the next target, leading the viper’s head just a little as it lunged towards its intended prey.
Jack was faster.
The boom echoed down the hall causing the adventurer to crouch with a scream covering her head from the sudden deafening boom and blinding light. The headless remains of the viper’s body was flung onto the remaining rat that couldn’t help but take a step back from the sudden carnage splattering all over it. Even a monster could tell the fight had gone very wrong.
The hall echoed with the soul chilling “ca-chak” of another shell of slaughter being racked into the chamber before another brutal boom cracked down the hall and ripped apart the remaining rat’s head and most of its chest before it could even fully recover from the shock.
He stepped off the last rat and looked at its HP levels.
:HP: 2/20. Status: stunned.
He looked over its rather flat head before stepping back and slipping a slug into his tube. “Alright. Lets finish this.” He calmly said as he racked the slug into the chamber. He honestly felt a little bit bad at his point as he shouldered, aimed, then jerked aside as a blur of brown and green whooshed by his body.
CRACK
:HP 0/20.
CRACK!
:Rat has been slain.
CRACK CRACK CRACK
Jack just watched as the frog adventurer raised her staff over and over again yelling in some strange language as she smacked the corpse of the rat over and over again. Pure fury slowly replacing the fear as she used the corpse for impromptu “physical” therapy.
>Processing new language. Creating translation profile. Oh my, no translation needed for THAT!
:HP -10/20. Status: cursed. Repeatedly.
Slowly the AI processed the frog’s words before it slowly started to translate them bit by bit. Before it could finish however the frog stopped and shook off its VERY bloody staff letting out a few more words that was a mix of actual curses and mere profanity. Once the frog person was done with its “therapy” it stood tall and took a deep breath, groaned, stomped a few times, then took one more deep breath.
The figure then turned to Jack as John stood further back, watching the frog person with his rifle at the ready just in case. This was their first time meeting a sentient from this world and not only were they inhuman but had also shown a great deal of violence. Sure it was towards a rat that was now well on its way to becoming a slime, but still violence.
“Thank you… knights?” The voice was clearly feminine as she turned to face them. No longer balled up or hammering away at something her slender arms, powerful legs, and overall feminine physique came more into view.
“I think you are knights? I have never seen any before since none would dare come into the swamps that my people call home.” She took out a huge book and started to write in it as she looked between Jack and John. “Anyway, I owe you both my life. What species are you from? The wulven of the woods? The draconic dominion? You are too tall for dwarves and even I can tell your gear is too advanced for the elves.” She rambled on as she continued to take notes.
“Human. Nice to meet you! We are not exactly from here.” Jack explained with a chuckle as he posed a bit. Just in case she was trying to draw him. However the reaction he was going to get would not be what he was expecting.